Hong Kong police arrested eight suspects accused of using AI to merge fraudsters' faces with photos on 21 lost identity cards, then uploading selfies to pass banks' online verification, according to the South China Morning Post. Police say 30 of 44 bank applications succeeded, letting the group apply for loans and credit cards and launder over HK$1.2 million.
Spain's VioGén algorithm rated a woman who reported threats from her ex-partner as 'medium' risk, meaning police follow-up within 30 days; a court denied her a restraining order, and three weeks later she died in a fire at her home after he allegedly let himself in with his key. Critics question police reliance on the tool, which has never been independently audited.
CBEX claimed its AI-powered trading bot would double investors' money in 30 days. TechCabal reports it had no real product and froze withdrawals. One investor says he put in $22,000 and another claims to have lost $81,000. On April 17 Nigeria's SEC said CBEX was never registered and promised 'appropriate enforcement action'.
Bots of the Russian disinformation network Matryoshka, in its first campaign against Moldova, are spreading videos on X and Bluesky purporting to come from international media and universities, accusing President Maia Sandu of corruption and repression, The Insider reports. One French-language clip poses as a French university professor's speech; a fake La Tribune cover names former anti-corruption prosecutor Veronica Dragalin.
Authors including Andrew Sean Greer and Ta-Nehisi Coates are suing in Kadrey v. Meta Platforms over Meta's alleged use of more than seven million books from the pirated library LibGen. Meta argues fair use and says 'none of [the authors'] works has economic value, individually, as training data'. It cites an expert who said one book shifts performance by less than 0.06 percent.
Hebrew-language social media accounts circulated an AI-produced video titled 'Next year in Jerusalem' that shows extremist Israeli groups blowing up Al-Aqsa Mosque to make way for the so-called temple. Palestine's foreign ministry condemned it as 'systematic incitement' and urged the international community to act under international law.
For six months, a weekday show on CADA has been hosted by an AI voice clone of an ARN finance staffer, made with Eleven Labs, and the content of each voice break is also AI-generated. The use of AI was not declared. ARN calls it a trial, while staff, after dozens of recent job losses, fear wider use to cut costs.
A viral YouTube video published on April 18, 2025 claimed Whoopi Goldberg fled the country as an $800 million defamation suit by Karoline Leavitt picked up speed. Lead Stories found no news outlet had reported any such lawsuit. An AI detector flagged parts of the audio as voice cloning and 'very likely AI-Generated'.
Gachibowli police in Hyderabad booked BRS IT cell in-charge Manne Krishank and others for allegedly posting AI-generated videos about the Kancha Gachibowli land row that police say could mislead the public, and on April 7 summoned him for questioning. Krishank said the material came from students and journalists. He was let off after eight hours of interrogation on April 18.
